YANGON, June 20, 2024 (AFP) – Detained Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is in “good health”, a junta spokesman told AFP on Thursday, a day after the Nobel laureate turned 79 in military custody.
Suu Kyi has been detained by the military since it toppled her government and seized power in 2021, plunging the Southeast Asian nation into turmoil.
The Nobel laureate is serving a 27-year sentence imposed by a junta court after a trial condemned by rights groups as a sham to shut her out of politics.
“She’s in good health as far as I know and living at a place we arranged for her previously,” junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told AFP, without giving details.
Suu Kyi has been held in a specially constructed prison compound in the military-built capital Naypyidaw.
The junta spokesman did not specify where Suu Kyi was currently being held.
In April, the junta said she had been given “necessary care” as temperatures in Naypyidaw reached 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).
Suu Kyi, who remains hugely popular in Myanmar, has been largely hidden from view since the coup, appearing only in grainy state media photos taken during court proceedings.
Local media reported that during her months-long trial, Suu Kyi had suffered dizzy spells, vomiting and at times had been unable to eat because of a tooth infection.
Her son Kim Aris told AFP on Wednesday that he was “concerned” about his mother’s condition, given her age and ongoing health issues.
The military seized power making unsubstantiated claims of fraud during the 2020 election won resoundingly by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy.
The junta’s subsequent crackdown on dissent has sparked a widespread armed uprising that the military is struggling to crush.